Nordic Folk Music

Traditional music of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, together with the Sámi territories and the Faroe Islands. Its core repertoire comprises dance forms such as the polska, springar, gangar and halling, medieval ballads and herding music, played on instruments including the Hardanger fiddle, nyckelharpa, kantele and langeleik. Distinct vocal practices — Swedish kulning herding calls, Sámi joik, Icelandic rímur chant — mark the region's sound. Long preserved by rural fiddlers and singers, the tradition was revived from the 1970s by folk ensembles and later carried worldwide by folk-rock groups and neofolk-influenced acts drawing on Norse heritage.